Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

Yesterday I had a very awesome 39th birthday! I got TWO sets of flowers, one from mom and one from my BFF Margo. The ones at the top are Margo's and the ones here, are from mom.

I also got some lovely cards from the DH and my friends - and a couple of other nice gifts - money which I can always use, a tshirt from Rolex KY and a doggy frame which is always welcome - especially as we get more pictures of Reilly's agility.





My agility peeps gave me a party with cheesecake and cards and gifts. Oh and the work group took me out to lunch.

So it was a great day overall. Thanks to everyone who gave me birthday wishes!

This Weekend's Adventures

or our first USDAA sanctioned trial.

First off my friend John says that I do NOT update my blog enough! So I am going to make an effort to update it more and more..... Thanks John for reading it religiously!

So this was a busy busy weekend( sounds familiar doesn't it?). We had our first USDAA trial and I decided to enter both days since we were so close to home. It was held at a facility 2 miles from the house - it was so nice to be the one close to home for a change.

Saturday started out the way I had expected. We entered the Gamblers class which is where each obstacle has a point value and you get to make up your own course, but you have to rack up a specific number of points in order to qualify. You also have to finish what is called " The gamble" which is a specific set of obstacles that must be done at the finish. And the handler has to stand at a distance. It's VERY difficult to do with Reilly, but it was a good way to let him blow off steam. We got 4 points - you needed 18. But that's ok! He got to blow off some steam.

We had some good runs on Sat. Nothing spectacular, but just remember he's still learning. And we had several of our friends come out to watch and support us. Cat and John came in their "Reilly " shirts and we had a blast.

Since it was the weekend preceding mine and Cat's birthday, we decided to do our annual birthday dinner on Saturday night. Thankfully the trial ended in enough time for us to go home and get a drink before getting ready for dinner.

We went to a renowned restaurant in Atlanta called Chops. You guessed it, a steak place. I had VERY high expectations and well, I am sorry they weren't met. The food was good, but the service left a bit to be desired. Is it too much to ask to get my water refilled??? Apparently.

But we were all very tired by the time we got home and I still had to get up the next morning to run Reilly again, so we called it a night.

Sunday it was raining and then it got cold, REALLY cold. And of course, here I am in my shorts and tshirt, bc I had no idea what the weather was going to do.

On Sunday we only did 3 classes - Gambler's, Standard and then Jumpers. Reilly was full of it in Gamblers and even made the judge giggle by running over and trying to pick up the tape measure to run around with. Fortunately it was too heavy and he had to set it back down.

We got through Gamblers and Standard ok, but by the time we got to Jumpers, Reilly was done. He was cold, tired and filthy and he wanted to go home. So we got into the ring and he just lost it. So we quit with a spectacular triple jump and left the ring.

It was a difficult weekend for him - the heights were set at 26 - which he can do, but it's stressful. And there were a lot of spread jumps and difficult questions.

He was so NASTY when we got home, he got a nice warm bath and put to bed. Just like me :)

No pictures, but DH got some video, I will try to upload.

Our next trial is in 2 weeks and it's NADAC. But for John's sake I'll post before then!

NADAC Show in Canton

This past weekend, we attended a NADAC rated show in Canton, GA. Due to scheduling issues and some very important birthday parties, we only went on Sunday.

The weather was beautiful! It had threatened to rain, but we did not see any clouds until after the show was over and we were packing up to leave.

This was a big show for us since we entered almost every class available to us! We did 2 Regular classes, 1 Tunnelers, 1 Hoopers and 1 Jumpers. That made for a REALLY long day for both Reilly and I.

So we started out with the Regular classes. Reilly saw the first class as simply an opportunity to run around the field like an idiot and check everything out. Then he decided to humor me and go through a tunnel. Once he did that, I called him back to me, and we left the field.

Second class - still Regular( BTW, Regular is the class with all available agility obstacles) - a little better although Reilly got fixated on the tunnel. I kept asking him to go up the dog walk and he kept running through the tunnel..... I finally got him to go up the walk( at that point it was a matter of honor) and we finished the course, but got another E for eliminated! :(



Ok, no problem. So we gathered ourselves together for Tunnelers. Tunnelers is what is sounds like, an entire course of tunnels. Reilly LOVES tunnels. A no brainer right? Well maybe for Reilly but not for Mom. It was getting hot, I was getting tired, and I think I gave up on him 1/2 way through the course. I was exhausted..... the sun was beating down on me, and well, I screwed up. I got in his way, and he got mad and off he went. Right up until that point, we were having a beautiful run! It was amazing!!! And I screwed it up. Then he peed. Which is a BIG NO NO on the course! But as the judge commented, at least he peed facing out of the ring and NOT on the equipment.



Next up was jumpers. This was a course with only jumps. Great, easy peasy right? Nope. I screwed up again. When I put him in his sit, I threw his leash too high in the air behind me and he went running after it.( does this dog EVER get tired???) And he was off...... I finally got him back to me and we completed a spectacular jumper course! But got another E for him running off before the class.

Last but not least, the bizarre Hoopers class. It's simply a course of these hula hoops on their sides and you have to do a pattern between them. NONE of us had ever done those before, so we were all wondering how it was going to go. Reilly and I go in there, and he's wondering what the heck we are doing - where are all the jumps?? He kept looking at me like " Ok mom, I don't really *get* it, but I will do it if you want me to". And we got a 3rd place! Not stellar, but a nice way to finish the day.




The pictures that I have posted are from a professional photographer at the show. She and her husband did a great job.

Reilly and I have a big USDAA show this weekend! Wish us luck!

Car Update

The dogmoble went to the body shop yesterday and apparently there is more damage than meets the eye. Luckily all the parts are in stock and will only take a day or 2 to get to the shop. The financial damage is around 4,000.00 and I am hoping to get it back by the 15th - which would be nice since we have a big agility trial that weekend and I would love to have my car back.

On the rental car side, my insurance pays $30 a day towards a rental through Enterprise. I am not fond of Enterprise, not having had good luck with them before and while the people there are nice this time, the cars are not the best by a long shot. The first car I got was a Grand Prix and it was filthy and had almost 40,000 miles on it - hard miles. I drove it over the weekend and decided that I really needed to upgrade. So the nice lady at Enterprise who has put up with me and my indecision, put me in a Trailblazer for about $5 out of pocket a day. So I am now driving that. It's still seen some hard times, but not as bad as the Grand Prix. And I feel much better being in a car that's higher off the ground and has more room for Reilly.

Tonight, hopefully, I can pick up the police report. I keep checking and it's never ready...... I hope that this guy has insurance and that he is going to have to pay for all this crap I am going through.

Happy Birthday Reilly!!!

Today is Reilly's 4th Birthday!( or actually our best guess at his birthday!) He has become such a big boy- he's really matured into an adult dog over the past year and he is the joy in our life.

Happy Birthday big guy!!!! We've gone a LONG way in the 3 years that we have had you and I hope we have many more journeys together.

OUCH! or My Poor Car!!!

Last night, as I was driving home, some punk kid decided that he couldn't wait an extra 30 seconds to get out of a gas station and he hit my poor car! I was stopped making waiting to make a left turn and he peeled out of the station and straight into my car's rear end! His excuse was that I was "inching" forward so he assumed I was going to turn. I wasn't inching of course, just sitting there at a stop.

So I got out of the car and started laying into this guy. Which probably wasn't a good idea since he could have pulled out a gun. Once I saw the guy and started to interact with him I was a little scared of him, so I called the DH and told him to get to me IMMEDIATELY! And to his credit he was there in a heartbeat.

Called the cops, they came in 15 minutes( a record I think!) and I was back home within 1/2 hour and on my way to agility in 45 minutes.

I think they cited him - which is good, I just hope he has good insurance. It's going to cost a pretty penny to cover my car, my car rental and the deductible.

It just makes me mad because it was a STUPID move on his part and now *I* am inconvenienced for at least a month if not more, in not having my car! Kudos to Liberty Mutual. They are covering a car for me for $30 a day and then I am paying an extra $1 a day to get a premium sized car. I refuse to drive around Atlanta in a dinky tin can. Plus Reilly has to have enough room to move around.

His car might have been damaged, but who could tell bc it was a true piece of crap.

And I had a hard time sleeping last night bc if you can't tell I am still MAD! ARGH!

On the bright side, Reilly ROCKED his agility class last night!

Here are some more pics of my poor car: